Gettin’ Crazy with the Gift Wrap…Fun DIY Ideas for Creative Gifts from Stuff Already in the Craft Closet.

Gettin’ Crazy with the Gift Wrap…

This year I decided to seriously get my gift on with some creative wrapping. I pulled out all sorts of funky things from my craft closet; leftover bits and odds and ends from other projects, feathers, end-of-spool ribbon pieces, washi tape, old greeting cards I couldn’t seem to part with, crafting bits from gifts I’ve received, etc. I laid everything out and played with putting different things together, and came up with some unusual gifts indeed…

Here are 8 unique ideas I hope will spark your creativity this holiday season! I’m assuming you already know how to wrap a box, so I’m focusing on the toppers. (if you need help with the wrapping, It’s Martha Stewart to the Rescue) The first 6 are all with matching silver paper. (A new big fat roll, purchased from the thrift store of course, for $1.99) I like the gifts under my tree to match, I’m just anal like that. I got weird with the gifts I’m mailing out to family.

#1 Wrapsody in Blue

For this one I put together a couple blue feathers, a few vintage chenille wires twisted into tear-drop shapes (I think I got these in a grab bag of crafty stuff at a yard sale), a tree cut out from an old greeting card, a circle of textured card stock, and stick-on rhinestones sheet cut into strips from David Tutura (available at most craft stores)

The Ingredients:

Finished:

It’s all attached with simple Scotch tape. I also cut a gift tag out of the leftover card stock and edged it with more sticky rhinestones. Best part is, because it’s a gift for my man, I’ll get to save and reuse the feathers again 😉

#2 Arsty Fartsy

I’ve had this weird obsession with origami cranes lately (more on that in future posts) so I made one as part of a present topper from an art magazine page (great origami tutorials HERE) and added black feathers and crystals (I have a bag of old chandelier crystals), with some black and white washi tape wrapped around in place of ribbon.

Ingredients:

Finished:

Again, everything is attached with Scotch tape, hidden under the crane. (and I can reuse it all again!)

#3 Furry Fun

I always a have bunch of faux fur scraps around (that’s just the kind of gal I am ;-)) I cut one into a circle (beware, cutting faux fur is crazy messy), and added simple loops cut out of the wrapping paper under it. Looking back I should have added more loops. I admit I got lazy, it was after midnight and my little wrapping fingers were sore…

#4 Whimsical Pug

We have two pugs. If you know anyone with pugs, you know we get a pug-crazed and have pug stuff everywhere. Something about those smushy little faces makes you do things you wouldn’t normally do, like collect weird stuff with pugs on it…I cut this pug face out of a card from last year, it was just too damn cute. I added a bit of sparkly green sticky ribbon and another piece of grosgrain ribbon from an old gift.

Ingredients:

By the way here’s the cards I cut out to use on gifts:

Finished:

Again using only Scotch tape.

#5 Popping Up All Over

Here I used the pop-up inside a cute card I received last year. It was very easy to cut out of the card. Because the design is so large, I added only a simple bit of the sparkly green sticky ribbon.

Ingredients:

Finished:

#6 Peacock Fantasy

This one is my favorite. I broke out the hot glue gun for this assemblage. I used a gorgeous piece of wired peacock feather on black ribbon as a base, and tied 2 black ostrich feathers together with a single peacock feather. I topped the tie point with a curl of the ribbon, glued a crystal into each end, and topped it with a short bit of Swarovski Crystals.

Ingredients:

Finished:

#7 Mom Likes Purple

I used a bit of green and purple wrap for this one, along with a bit of purple silk flower, lavender textured card stock (cut in a circle and little strips), a couple purple floral crystals (usually used in bridal bouquets and what-not), more of that sparkly green sticky ribbon, and a piece of amethyst stone.

Ingredients:

Finished:

I used the glue gun on this one as well.

And finally…

#8 Au Natural

This one was inspired by the lonely little owl I had in a box of craft supplies. He’d been there for ages awaiting a home, and now he has one. The box was wrapped in a clean brown paper bag, turned inside out and cut to size, and topped with the owl, a few vintage chenille wires, printed washi tape, raffia, a bit of the David Tutera sticky rhinestones in orange this time, a couple crystals, and a couple sticks of nice incense. I also used the hot glue gun on this one. I added a gift tag cut out of the paper bag and edged it with the sticky rhinestones.

Ingredients:

Finished:

And all my holiday wrapping is DONE! Everything was done using bit and pieces I already had around, all I bought was the $1.99 wrapping paper. Now on to the holiday cards. A crafty woman’s work is never done 😉